Integrity is doing the right thing when no one is looking

I have enjoyed selling things on eBay for years. Sometimes I find the right thing to sell and it pays off. I once bought a small paperback booklet titled “90 Years of Parker Bros.” It talked about the history of Parker Brothers’ games. I paid 50 cents for it at an estate sale. After my son read it, I put it on eBay and it sold for almost $100.
I once put a baseball card from 1910 on eBay for a starting bid of $9.99. It sold for $3,650. I was told by one of the country’s largest baseball collectors that if I had had the card graded by a professional grader it would have brought in around ten grand. I learned a lot about old baseball cards that year.
Recently two items I sold met with unfortunate demise. One item never arrived at its destination. The delivery confirmation shows the item leaving the local post office in Inglewood, California, but never arriving at its intended postal address. The buyer demanded an immediate refund and filed a case against me with eBay. I was a bit miffed.
The second item arrived, but was damaged during delivery. The buyer contacted me, sent me pictures of the damage and we started dialog on how to resolve the issue. I listed both of these items for other people, and therefore issuing refunds would come directly out of my pocket. I didn’t really like this idea. I sat on the decision for a day or so. I lost sleep over it. It’s my policy not to accept returns or make refunds.
These two issues created so much turmoil within me that I realized I needed to make a decision one way or another. I decided that the man in Inglewood really wanted those Precious Moments figurines and he never got them. One of them was called “Onward Christian Soldiers.” What kind of Christian would I be if I insisted on keeping his money? I had the right to. His lost item wasn’t my fault. But would it be the right thing to do? I sent him a total refund and felt pretty good about it.
The lady in Washington State who bought the coasters could enjoy them even if the holder that came with them was damaged during shipping. I gave her a total refund as well, and told her to keep the coasters. I felt even better.
I’m not writing about this to get accolades for doing the right thing. I wanted to keep the money. I’m sharing how doing the right thing made me feel good. Integrity is doing the right thing when no one is looking. Can you imagine what kind of world we would live in if everyone one of us, all the time, tried our best to live with integrity and do the right thing?
I was in turmoil over approximately $34.00. That’s what I lost on those transactions. I lost more money last week then I took in. But is that really important? The peace I have by doing the right thing is worth way more than $34.00. That’s my message. It is better to suffer for doing good, then for doing evil.
Let’s strive to let integrity drive our motives. Then the world will be a better place.


Rhonda Tommer is a member of The Spectrum and Daily News writers group and lives in Santa Clara. She can be reached at r.tommer.writersgroup@gmail.com